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In the tradition of ‘Fall For Hall’ and ‘Fail For Nail’, you can now officially tag this season ‘Bad For Ekblad.’

Craig MacTavish, back when he became Edmonton Oilers GM, made a statement he now wishes to retract.

“We don’t need another teenager, another 18-year-old kid coming in here next year,” he said then.

At the time, the Oilers rookie GM was projecting his hockey team to be up there with the 14 teams which currently have between 40 and 49 points in the standings. But now it looks very much like the Oilers are going to be one of the five lottery teams for the first-round pick in the draft again. And that changes everything.

“Exactly,” said MacTavish returning from the World Junior in Malmo, Sweden.

“When you’re drafting in the top seven picks, you can’t pass up those opportunities. You can’t pass them up unless it makes sense and nothing we were offered last year made sense,” he said of proceeding and drafting 6-foot-3, 192-pound Darnell Nurse 7th overall last year.

“Certainly we’ll be in a position of listening, but when you are drafting that high, it’s tough to pass on skill and youth like that. We’re certainly scouting like we’re going to be picking.”

MacTavish admits there were a couple of times he’s closed his eyes and imagined an all-filled-out Darnell Nurse and a veteran Aaron Ekblad playing together on the Oilers.

“Ekblad is a very mature guy. He’s an NHL passer. He’s a thinker. At 6-foot-3, he has NHL size. There wasn’t a lot not to like. He’s a right shot. Nurse is a left,” MacTavish said of the Barrie Colts player he watched with Team Canada in Malmo.

“But there’s other guys, too,” he said, including a big centre to fill another big need for this team going forward MacTavish identifies as 6-foot-1 209-pound German Leon Draisaitl of the Prince Albert Raiders out of Cologne.

Nurse, of course, didn’t get selected for the Canadian team at the World Junior. But he’s been dominating the OHL with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Hockey Canada is receiving a lot of grief for not picking him.

“It’s really disappointing. He’s had a tremendous year so far. We expected him to have the World Junior experience and be 200-plus pounds, ideally, when he came here in September for training camp. We’re in the business of projecting and I project him at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.

“We’ll bring him in with the rookies after the draft and keep him here for a while. We’ve given him all kinds of nutritional advice to keep his weight up through the season.”

As for the Oilers other blue-chip prospect on defence, Oscar Klefbom, playing with the Oklahoma City Barons in the AHL, the plan all along has been to develop him there this season. But MacTavish says there’s a very good chance you will now see the 6-foot-3, 213-pound 20-year-old Swede who missed almost all of last season with an injury, for the final 22 games of the regular season when the Oilers return from the Olympic break.

“He’s developing well. He’s had a couple injuries including a bit of a shoulder injury right now. But he’s making strides. We’re going to see him up here last quarter of the year.

“The AHL is a bit of a weird dynamic for a defenceman. It’s tough. It’s scrambly. When you come from playing on the big ice in Europe, everything happens quicker on the small ice over here. It’s a steeper learning curve for him.”

In the meantime, MacTavish returned from the World Junior feeling very good about the two Russian players the Oilers drafted five picks apart in the third round last year. Both had good tournaments.

“Bogdan Yakimov is a mammoth of a guy and he looked good,” he said of the 6-foot-5, 202-pound 19-year-old centre the Oilers took 83rd overall.

“He won faceoffs, killed penalties and played on the power play. He’s come a long way the last couple of years with his skating and skill level. Hopefully we’ll sign him and bring him over next year.

“Anton Sleypshev was the captain,” he said of the team which beat Canada out for bronze.

“Slepyshev played on the first line with Mikhail Grigorenko,” he added of the 12th overall pick of the Buffalo Sabres who played with the Quebec Remparts.

Slepyshev was also taken in the third round last year with the 88th pick overall.

It’s not like the cupboard is bare. And Craig MacTavish has decided to keep filling it with the kind of draft picks it is so obvious they need to develop every time they play a heavy-body team from California or the one they play tonight from St. Louis.

Oils GM Craig MacTavish has a change of heart due to lure of top draft picks

In the tradition of ‘Fall For Hall’ and ‘Fail For Nail’, you can now officially tag this season ‘Bad For Ekblad.’

Craig MacTavish, back when he became Edmonton Oilers GM, made a statement he now wishes to retract.

“We don’t need another teenager, another 18-year-old kid coming in here next year,” he said then.

At the time, the Oilers rookie GM was projecting his hockey team to be up there with the 14 teams which currently have between 40 and 49 points in the standings. But now it looks very much like the Oilers are going to be one of the five lottery teams for the first-round pick in the draft again. And that changes everything.

“Exactly,” said MacTavish returning from the World Junior in Malmo, Sweden.

“When you’re drafting in the top seven picks, you can’t pass up those opportunities. You can’t pass them up unless it makes sense and nothing we were offered last year made sense,” he said of proceeding and drafting 6-foot-3, 192-pound Darnell Nurse 7th